Monday, 8 November

At 4.30 p.m. I visited Ambassador Kerr. I told him about the telegram from Consul General Zhang saying that the Japanese army kept on sniping Soviet troops in the Far Eastern border, and the Soviet intention to avoid confrontation. I talked to Ambassador Kerr for a long time. The main content was as follows. 1) Czechoslovakia wanted to sign a mutual pact with the Soviet Union. This matter was discussed at the Conference, and there was no objection. So President Benes would soon come to Moscow to sign this treaty. 2) With regard to the Polish problem, Eden had raised the issue at the Conference, and the Soviet Union had not shown any particular ill-feelings. The condition was that if Poland didn’t reorganise its government and purge the anti-Soviet elements, then there was no hope of resuming diplomatic relations. Also the present General Commander of the Polish army is well-known for his anti-Soviet stance. When Sikorski entered into the Polish-Soviet Pact with Stalin, he was against it and resigned as Army Minister. After the death of Sikorski, he resumed as the General Commander of Poland. This could hardly be in favour of the Soviet Union. 3) The issue with regard to the three countries in the Baltic Sea had not been mentioned by anybody. They all thought that they shouldn’t mention it. 4) With regard to the Turkish question, Kerr said according to the agreement between Britain, France and Turkey, if warfare happened in the Mediterranean, it was the duty of the Turks to enter the war. If Turkey entered the war, then Britain would give Turkey economic help, and France would help with armaments. So when Italy joined the Axis countries at war, the Turks should join too. But the Turks made an excuse saying since France was defeated, they could not supply them with armaments and Britain didn’t force Turkey too much. Afterwards Britain said they could supply armaments to them in place of France, but still the Turks didn’t want to take up their duty to join in the war. Not only was the Soviet Union unhappy, but also Britain didn’t forgive it. Therefore when they took up this issue at the conference everyone was unhappy with Turkey. 5) With regard to the Soviet-Japan problem, he said according to the many talks he had had with important Soviet figures, he deeply believed that after the end of the German-Soviet war, the Soviet Union would certainly join the war against Japan. 6) As to the conference in Moscow, on the first day the participants did not trust each other very much, but afterwards it got better, which was beyond expectation. He smiled and asked me what I thought about this conference proclamation. I said it was quite good. He said thank you and said it was drafted by him. He then told me that with regard to the Chinese signing the Four Powers Declaration, some participants proposed that it could be signed by the three countries first, and then China signed later. He then said in the conference the political effect would be totally different. Some said that they were afraid that the Chinese Ambassador would be unable to get the full power to sign from the Chinese government in time. Mr. Hull replied very loudly that he could guarantee that he would definitely be able to obtain the authorisation in time. Everybody in the venue was very surprised. Kerr wanted to secretly talk to me that I sign even without the instruction, and he reckoned that I would sign first. If there was no news on Friday, then he would talk to me about it. I smiled and replied that I had had the same thought. We laughed. With regard to the Burmese war he had no definite news. He only said that India had made substantial preparation. As soon as the rainy season was over, they would act. He also said that Lord Louis Mountbatten was his friend. He heard that the result of Mountbatten’s visit to Chongqing was quite good

This morning I sent Counsellor Liu to see the Czechoslovakian Ambassador, telling him that we wanted to meet Benes when he was in Moscow. The Czechoslovakian Ambassador suddenly asked Counsellor Liu if he was able to tell him something about the secret agreement China signed in this conference. Liu said apart from the Declaration, he had heard nothing of any other agreement. Probably, the Diplomatic Corps here suspected that I signed another mutual agreement against the Japanese.

I heard Hitler’s speech in Munich last night from today’s broadcast. From this we could gather as follows.1) The German army is prepared to make a final offensive in the Eastern line, but certainly with no hope of victory. 2) The bombardment incurred enormous damage in Germany, so they took reprisal and revenge against Britain to comfort the German public. 3) He said there were not a lot of shaky elements in the country, actually what he said was affirmative, and the quantity was substantial, otherwise he need not have mentioned it. All in all the whole speech was full of pessimism, and the internal condition of Germany has started to be shaky. If the Soviet army continues to win big victories, the war may end this year.

Also, Prime Minister Churchill, at the London County Council reception said Britain was ready for bigger sacrifice in 1944.  This is equal to declaring that the second war zone will be opened next year.